The experiment is to see how a sample of volunteers (you) respond when given an unpleasant task. Eating large quantities of plain oatmeal is an unpleasant task.
'Eating oatmeal' is a metaphor for any other unpleasant type of task one might encounter; studying, working, exercise, cleaning, socializing, putting on pants. Whatever it is for YOU that causes feelings of dread and apprehension.
In life we face unpleasant tasks all the time. Tasks may be boring, uncomfortable, inconvenient, confusing, unfair, risky, absurd, pointless, drawn out in time, or a myriad of other things causing the sensation of apprehension within you. Nevertheless, these tasks must be done if one wishes to reap the benefits of them and get on with life(more tasks).
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These are the strategies, you the sample, provided. One could imagine these strategies being applied to all sorts of tasks.
Methods of avoidance. No successful completion.
- Just don't do it.
- via Rook - "I choose not to"
- via onesteptwostep - [method #2]
- Distract oneself from the task, WITHOUT attempt.
- via Cognisant - (actually got distracted!)
- Question the validity of the task, and quit.
- via onesteptwostep - "I proceed to throw this crap into the sink and go outside"
- (this is my reality)
Methods of deference.
- Get someone else to do it.
- via Minuend - "trick Rook into"
Plausibly successful methods.
- Modify ones own attributes to handle the task more adequately.
- via Jennywocky - [enlargement ray]
- Distract oneself from the task, DURING attempt.
- Persuade through rationalization.
- via onesteptwostep - "nutrients would outweigh the stress"
- Gamify and incentivize (I think...)
- Sheer force of will.
- via TheHabitDoctor - [single day time limit]
- Build a tolerance / get accustomed to.
- via Shadow Angel - "savor the flavor; I feel an odd craving for oatmeal."
- via TheHabitDoctor - "I don't like it, but it's there."
- Break big task into smaller more manageable tasks.
- via TheHabitDoctor - "just eat a bowl for breakfast every day"
(Thank you to those who participated. Your input WAS excellent for my purposes)
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There is a good selection of strategies here. You've always known how to do something difficult and yet beneficial. In the case of oatmeal, you do not eat it because I told you to, you eat it because it's healthy! But like Rook, more often than not, we choose against that action.
Why we you make this choice?. Why don't you eat your oatmeal, or read great literature, or work hard, or put on some pants, or whatever your thing is. Why don't you do that thing(s) that will improve the quality of your life and earn you accolades? Lack of time? No. Lack of calories? No. Lack of ability? No. Lack of any other resource? No.
Because the task is unpleasant to you. (And most other persons as well)
We don't have a lack of reason, motivation, skill, or will. We have a lack of tolerance for the unpleasant. We are afflicted by an aversion to exertion. A tug-o-war between our instinctive response to conserve ourselves and knowing that expending ourself is of more use to our objectives.
Merit is found in those who can tolerate what is unpleasant yet beneficial. Studying, exercising, creating, leading, researching, fighting for a cause, cultivating the soil, whatever.
So, I have come to think, if one can enthusiastically and gleefully work through large quantities of what is typically unpleasant, indefinitely, then respect and accolades would abound. Because no one else can tolerate stepping outside of their comfort zone for very long, or risk compromising their physical, mental, emotional, social homeostasis. Mind you, conceptually, math is easier than art. However the former is oft an undesirable activity. And this is why you find too few great mathematicians and great artists so numerous they claw at each others throats for commissions.
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Personal disclosure:
I fucking hate doing shit. I have all the freedom and resources in the world, and yet I allow myself to rot and fade into obscurity. My life could be worth something, I could have it all. These are things I want, and all it takes is eating plain oatmeal, everyday as much as I can, indefinitely.
Oatmeal is oatmeal. If I can not change the substance, can I change my experience of it? Can oatmeal taste to me like steak? Can I find a system the binds me, contracts me into consuming my metaphorical oatmeal?
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TL;DR: I won a ton of oats in a sweepstakes. I'm trying to make good use of it. I'm crowd-sourcing ideas. (METAPHOR!!!)
Hopefully you didn't find this as banal and mundane as oatmeal.